Good enough board?

[Ookami]

Image 1

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Does this 1x4 6ft board look good enough for a 30lb bow? (using the "so you want to build a bow?" tutorial...)

The grain run off isn't ideal but it was the best lowes had to offer (There's another lowes close by I could take a look there and return this one if there is something better). Thanks guys xD.

[4est trekker]

Is that oak?  (First picture looks like pine.)  Assuming it is, then yes, the grain looks fine.  I would actually lay the bow out on a diagonal, though, and make the centerline of the bow following the grain.  That is, run a stringline/straightedge from end to end and line it up with the grain.  Then, lay your bow out using that new line.  Hope that helps and makes sense!

[Ookami]

Yes red oak =](I tried to find hickory but no place I called carried it -.-) now to mock it up on autocad (makes my life soo much easier) Thank you xD saved me a trip to lowes and a headache

[George Tsoukalas]

No pictures. Jawge

[Ookami]

Ah I apologize for the over-sized images, I was assuming that the limit only applied to pics uploaded directly to tradgang (what I get for not reading the rules closely enough)

[So-Mo Archer]

That board looks really good. The grain is better than what I had on my last board bow, and so far it's alright    .

I would suggest that you go with 4est's advice and lsu it out along the grain, it will make for a stronger bow in the end. Good luck!

[Ookami]

Thx xD finished marking it up a little while ago at the grain angle, oh one more question.. since it's at an angle I could only get the width to 3"... is that still safe for a 30lb bow? if so... would 2" without backing work as well? oh I marked the bow up at 66" btw.

[LittleBen]

Grain is pretty good. Should be no problem there. Get a picture of the end grain. The ratio of early to late wood will have a great impact on how much set/drawweight/performance you can squeeze out of it.

In my experience a really nice dense red oak board can actually be quite a performer, whereas a very low density oak board is not what you want.

[Ookami]

It looks pretty good to me, then again I'm completely new at this  :p

[LittleBen]

Yeah I'd say that looks pretty darn good. Definately better than the vast majority of oak boards. Those are some very wide looking growth rings with very little porous wood in between.

Why turn that into a 30lb bow? Thats way more wood than you need for a 30lber.

My recommendation is to rip that board into 1.5"x1"x6ft and 2"x1"x6ft. You should have no problem getting 30 lbs from the 1.5" wide piece and 40-50lbs from the 2" wide section.

If you wanna end up with a hunting weight bow I might even go 1.25" wide on the light one and 2.25" on the hunting weight one.

Good luck.

[Ookami]

I picked 30lb because I'm so scrawny  :p , but if I can squeeze a 30lb and a heavier one out of it xD hell yeah =]I think my uncle has a band saw, so after I get it marked up for two bows Imma take it to him -nods-. Thank you! You made my day xD

[razorback]

Yeh, nothing wrong with that board. If you follow 4est's build along you could easily get 50# + out of that board, 3" is plenty wide. make sure you make yourself a gizmo and read carefully how to use it. It will be one of the best investments you could make in your bowyering. And keep posting pictures, it in the rules.  

[razorback]

Here is a link to the gizmo page.

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000075

[Ookami]

ooo thanks, that does look extremely useful, takes all the guess work out of tillering =]